Of Dreamers and Stubborn Fools
by HedwigBlack
Summary: "There is a place beside the river where a dreamer likes to get her knees wet, and the Freshwater Plimpies don't mind in the least..." Theo and Luna and Freshwater Plimpies. For Couture Girl.


_For Couture Girl who writes the most gorgeous TheoLuna ever. Also, the mentions of Theo and Luna having "another life" is all her headcanon that I hope she doesn't mind that I stole because it's adorable._

_I'm so sorry it's late, darling._

* * *

There is a place beside the river where a dreamer likes to get her knees wet and the Freshwater Plimpies don't mind in the least. They gather about her ankles, begging for her attention, little legs losing their balance as they trip over her feet. And she always smiles like an angel and promises they won't become dinner. At least, not tonight. Her father only makes Freshwater Plimpy soup on Thursdays.

"Aren't they sweet, Theo?" she asks, raising her face to the sun. She doesn't have to look to know he's there. He has a way of showing up unannounced, mostly because he knows she loves to be surprised, though he will never admit it. He's such a stubborn fool.

He sits on a log and leans his elbows on his knees, watching from a safe distance. _Yes_, he thinks. _I am a stubborn, stubborn fool. _Because if he was smart, he'd leave her alone and let her live in her own little world where Death Eaters and Dark Marks don't exist. If he was smart, he'd run away.

But Theo Nott is a stubborn, stubborn fool.

He likes to watch her on days like this when the sun is out and no one is around to bother them. There is no one to call her names, no one to accuse her of being anything but beautiful. There is no one to remind him that he has expectations to meet, that she is on the opposing side, that it's wrong to love her like he does.

Because he does love her. He loves her innocence, loves her carelessness and her spirit and all the things about her that he is not. And he doesn't know what he's done to deserve her though every time he says so she insists that love isn't about deserving; it's about giving. And he swears his hands are empty but he loves her just the same, and he hopes she knows it the way she knows that Nargles exist. He hopes she can believe in something so seemingly impossible.

She turns to smile at him and holds out her hand. "Come on, Theodore."

It used to be that he would refuse, content with simply watching her. But only Luna could get him to do something so nonsensical as walking into a river fully clothed without a care in the world, and upon reaching the water's edge, he realizes that perhaps he's not as stubborn as he thinks.

She leans up on her tiptoes and presses her lips to his. "Say it," she says, her warm breath tickling his cheek. "Say they're sweet. You don't want them to be offended, do you?"

He smirks. "What would they do to me if I offended them?"

"You don't want to know," she responds very seriously with wide eyes and a shadow of a grim smile around her mouth. "Come on," she continues, wrapping her arms around his neck now, pulling him closer, pulling him further into the water until he's up to his shins. "Say it," she says again. "You used to love Plimpies in our other life. Do you remember? You'd go fishing with me all the time."

"I never remember," he says because it's easier than contradicting her. And honestly he doesn't want to. There's no doubt in his mind that she's done this before. This isn't the first time she's lived like a fairy child by the riverbed. This isn't the first time she's loved a lost boy who says all the wrong things. Perhaps he only reminds her of someone else. Perhaps she spent another life with another boy in another much happier time. He's astonished to find that the thought of it makes him sad. "Tell me about our other life," he mumbles into her hair. It smells of cinnamon and sunshine and he knows one day very soon he's going to miss this. "Was I happy?"

"We were both happy. Just as we are now. You are happy, aren't you, Theodore?"

"Yeah." He looks over the top of her head at the clouds forming in the distance. The sunshine won't last for long. They should go in soon. "I'm happy. For now."

"You'll be happy later, too. You'll see."

Theo shakes his head and turns her in his arms to face the darkening sky and the conversation changes. It's one they've had before, one they've never really resolved. It always begins the same way.

"Something's coming, Luna."

"Only a little rain…"

"You know what I mean, love. Father expects me to get the Mark soon. They'll want me to do terrible things. Something bad is coming and I'll only hurt you. I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

"I will," he insists, willing for her to understand. "I won't mean to. But I will."

"I'll love you anyway."

Theo exhales in frustration at her inability to see reason. And she only turns back around to change the subject back to things that in the long run won't matter, but Luna was never one for thinking of the future was she?

"Just say the Plimpies are sweet."

Theo rests his forehead against her own and tells himself that maybe she has a point. Perhaps he should just live in the moment for once.

Perhaps now is not the time to be a stubborn fool.

"The Plimpies are sweet."


End file.
